"Yeah?"
Crystal took a deep breath. "About five years ago I was hanging out around there. In fact, I used to crash on the second floor of that building." "That place has been boarded up for as long as I can remember," he said.
"Yup," she agreed. "But a few nails aren't going to keep people out of an abandoned building when they want to get in." She shrugged. "It was close to the dive I worked at and my dealer." Crystal wondered briefly how much of her past Laura had shared with Bobby but decided that the risk was worth it. "I wasn't the only one hanging there. There was probably about twenty or twenty five of us that regularly stayed there."
"Wow," he gasped in surprise, clearly having trouble reconciling the woman before him with the person he was being told about. "Weren't you scared?"
Crystal thought about it for a few seconds. "I don't think so. By that point I don't think I cared about anything. All I wanted to do was sit back and get high then go work to earn some more money to buy more coke."
"Did you ever shoot up?" he asked. Crystal thought it an odd question but shook her head.
"No. I knew about AIDS and I didn't trust anyone. Have you?"
Bobby shook his head. "No but I've been told it gets you high fast."
"Jumping out an airplane without a parachute will get you to the ground faster but it's still not a good idea." Crystal looked deeply into his blue eyes. "It's like playing Russian Roulette with your life, Bobby. All the hard stuff. It'll happily kill you if it gets a chance. I've seen it." "You've seen someone die?"
"Two," she admitted. "One was this crack head named Melissa who OD'd. I think she got a bad batch because it hit her really quick. She was gone before the ambulance ever got there. The other was a guy I didn't know. I was woken up by the sound of a gunshot but I wasn't stupid enough to go check it out. They found the guy's body in the alley the next morning."
"Oh God, that's horrible," he said.
"That's what the hard stuff will do to you. That guy probably died because of a deal gone bad. It happens all the time out there. Bobby, you have everything going for you. You're young, good looking, smart, have a scholarship to a good school. You can be anything you want. Don't waste it by getting mixed up in coke." By the way he flinched Crystal knew she was right about the drug he was experimenting with.
Bobby tore the burning end off of his cigarette and put the filter in his pocket. "I've only done it a few times. Usually I just share a joint with a few friends."
"Are they the same friends who shared their coke with you?"
"Yeah, Tyrone brought it with him one day."
Crystal nodded knowingly. "Bet he didn't even charge you since it was your first time, right? Just a gift from a friend?"
"Yeah, his treat."
"For now. When he has you hooked there won't be any freebies." Crystal knew she was pushing but it was too important for her not to. "Look
Bobby, I'm not a prude." She gave a short laugh. "In fact I've done many things I'm ashamed of, things I'd rather not have people know about me but I do know what I'm talking about. It's one thing to have a joint or two once in a while to relax but it's another to get messed up with the drugs you're looking at." She lowered her head. "If I could go back to when I was your age, I'd change so many things about what I did with my life, starting with giving two of those years up to living like a junkie on thee.g.of death." Crystal mimicked Bobby's actions with her cigarette, getting the hint that Mrs. Taylor would not appreciate butts on her front walk. "Just remember that the only person who's looking out for you is you."
Bobby swallowed and looked down at his hands. "You won't tell Mom or Laura what we talked about, will you?"
"Of course not. It's your life and your decision to make." Crystal stood up and put her hand on the door handle.
"My friend Mike played center last year on our team," Bobby began, rising to his feet as well. "He failed a random drug test. Lost his scholarship. He was really counting on it too. Now if he gets enough with grants and loans he might be able to afford city college."
"Aren't you glad you're number didn't come up that day?" she asked.
"Actually yeah," he admitted. "I was sweating it out there when Coach was reading off the names of the guys who had to go piss in the cups." He shuddered at the memory. "I could have ended up with like Mike."
"I don't think anyone would have wanted that, least of all you," Crystal said softly. "Come on, we gotta get in there before they start looking for us." "Yeah," he agreed. "Crystal?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for talking to me," he said, surprising her with a brief hug. "Even if you're not Laura's girlfriend, I'm still glad to know you." "Um" Crystal hesitated, unsure how to respond. Finally for lack of anything better she mumbled her thanks and led the way inside.
The rectangular table sat six without the leaf, Helen and Gail on opposite ends. Laura and Bobby sat on either side of their mother while Crystal took the seat next to her roommate. When the Taylor family reached their hands out to the persons on either side of them, it took Crystal by surprise. Bobby shifted his seat to reach past the empty place and grasp his aunt's hand. Saying grace was not something Crystal had ever seen Laura do at home. She hesitantly took the hands being offered to her, Laura's on her left and Helen's on her right. There was a definite difference between the two, she noted. Laura's touch was warm, their fingers intertwining with the writer's thumb moving slowly back and forth atop her own. Helen's grip was firmer, the skin not nearly as soft as Laura's. Noting everyone had lowered their heads, she followed suit, pleased when Gail spoke alone, ending her fear that they would recite some prayer that she didn't know.
"We thank God for the gifts we are about to receive and for bringing my family together tonight," Gail began. "Thank you for bringing my sister to me and giving me my health back. Bless our family that could not be here with us tonight and watch over them as you watch over us. We are happy to have Crystal here with us and we ask that you watch over her as well." Surprised, Crystal raised her head up and felt a reassuring squeeze in her left hand. Gail finished the grace and everyone separated their hands. While she was happy to be freed from Helen's grip, finding the bony fingers holding hers to be uncomfortable but felt only coolness and loss when Laura released her grip. For someone who hated to be touched and avoided it whenever possible, Crystal found it disconcerting to realize that she didn't mind Laura touching her. Indeed, as she mimicked the actions of those around her, passing platters and bowls around the table, taking portions from each, Crystal found herself glancing to the left frequently, catching glimpses of Laura out of the corner of her eye. The writer was questioning Bobby about what courses he planned on taking in his first semester, allowing the blonde to watch her unobserved or so she thought. A glance to the right would have shown Helen's eyes watching her like a hawk, noting each movement and look. Laura's hair had grown beyond the point where it should have been trimmed, if only to straighten out the ends which were beginning to curl along thee.g.of the writer's collar. From the shampoo bottles in the shower, Crystal knew Laura's hair tended to get split ends, the evidence visible in the way the dark hair seemed almost frizzy at the ends. It occurred to her that Laura wasn't the only one due for a haircut, her own blonde locks getting close to the longest point Crystal had ever let them grow and she wondered if perhaps a shorter style might not be such a badi.e.after all. It certainly would make it easier to work if she didn't have to keep putting it in a ponytail to keep it off the back of her neck while she labored. Moving her attention away from hair, she took in other sights the eyebrows that seemed to always threaten to blend together into one solid bar above Laura's eyebrows, no doubt the reason for the tweezers that always sat on the shelf next to the toothbrushes. A slight bump at the bridge of the nose, caused according to Laura by forgetting the laws of physics and applying the front brake of her ten speed without also engaging the rear one. Crystal also knew her roommate had a different accident on her bicycle resulting in a broken wrist when she was twelve but there was no permanent evidence of that one. Realizing she was no longer sneaking glances but actually staring, Crystal blushed slightly and turned her attention back to the plate in front of her. She offered her compliments on the meal without singling out any particular person, pleased when Gail, Bobby and Laura smiled, obviously all three believing they were responsible for the way dinner turned out.